Page 33 of Blush
Sadie shook her head. “No, that’s not it. I wasn’t getting any work done at school, either. I seriously hate to say this but... I’m a little frozen on my thesis.”
“Since when?”
Sadie hesitated. “Months.”
“What’s wrong?”
The distressed look on her mother’s face was exactly what she’d wanted to avoid.
“I don’t know,” Sadie said. “I kept thinking it was just temporary.But for the first time, I just can’t get a handle on what I’m supposed to be writing.”
“Why don’t you take the summer off and focus on your work for Dr. Moore?”
“Well, that’s another thing: since I’ve missed deadlines for my thesis, my status in the honors program is in jeopardy. Dr. Moore...” Sadie swallowed. “She fired me.”
“Firedyou?”
“Not in a punitive way. But she doesn’t want me spending time working for her when I should be focused on my academics.”
Leah frowned. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I guess I didn’t want to let you down.”
“You could never let me down.”
“I thought the change in scenery out here would help. But for the past few days I’ve just been reading this crazy novel. I can’t believe that Gran—”
“You can’t believe Gran what?” Vivian said from behind them.
Sadie and her mother turned to find Vivian standing in the doorway along with Peternelle, who held cardboard boxes. Sadie slipped the copy ofLaceback into her bag.
“Mom!” Leah said. “I’m so happy to see you out and about.”
“Not a moment too soon, from what I just heard in here,” Vivian said. “What are you two gossiping about?”
“Nothing,” Sadie said quickly. “Just... it’s such a great collection here.”
“Yes, well, I’m glad you’re enjoying it while you still can. Those awful buyers are here today. I suggest you both lock your bedroom doors. I can’t prevent them from traipsing through here, unfortunately, so Peternelle is going to help me gather a few things.”
“We can help, too,” Leah said.
“Fine. I need the family photo albums from the upper level. That staircase is treacherous, so I’m hoping you more agile beings can get the job done. Peternelle and I will start down here.”
Sadie followed her mother up the stairs, feeling paranoid. Was her grandmother really collecting the photo albums because of people visiting the winery, or did she suspect Sadie had been snooping around? Did Vivian even remember that the journal was up there?
Her mother bent down and began piling albums into her arms. “I’ll get this row. If we can each pack up half a shelf, I think we can make it in just a few trips.”
What if her grandmother had forgotten about the journal and mistakenly left it behind for the new owners to discover? She had to confide in her mother; Leah would know what to do.
“Mom,” Sadie whispered. “Did you know that Gran had a book club journal?”
“What do you mean, a journal?”
“She wrote down all this stuff about starting a book club. How she’d tried to keep a journal before but didn’t stick with it, so instead she was going to write about this one specific thing: the books they read, who was there... that kind of thing.”
“How do you know?”
“I found it hidden away in a compartment behind this shelf.”
